The Permanent Portfolio by Harry Browne aims to protect and grow your money in an unpredictable world by diversifying across four fundamental economic conditions.

Asset Allocation

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• 25% Total Stock Market
• 25% Long Term Bonds
• 25% Cash
• 25% Gold

Author

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Overview

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The Permanent Portfolio is built on the idea that while the future is unknowable, the economy fluctuates between a few known states — prosperity, recession, inflation, and deflation. While some portfolio managers apply the idea of “risk parity” to balance the volatility risk between assets, Harry Browne believed in using the same idea to balance economic risk. So he chose four assets that he saw as uniquely qualified to respond positively in each of the four economic conditions.

Prosperity: stocks
Recession: cash
Inflation: gold
Deflation: long term treasuries

Brown equally weighted the four assets to protect and grow his money no matter what happens in the market. And the resulting portfolio has proven to be one of the most consistent on record with dependable returns, low drawdowns, and high withdrawal rates.

In addition to Browne’s own writings, An excellent modern guide is The Permanent Portfolio: Harry Browne’s Long-Term Investment Strategy by Craig Rowland and J. M. Lawson.

Books

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Books about the Permanent Portfolio, and others by Harry Browne

Buying a book educates you, supports the author, and earns Portfolio Charts a commission.

Articles

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Insights that mention the Permanent Portfolio

Alternatives

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Portfolios with a similar structure or design intent

Golden Butterfly — My own evolution of the Permanent Portfolio tilted towards prosperity

All Seasons Portfolio — A similar investing philosophy built around economic risk parity

7Twelve Portfolio — A portfolio that broadly diversifies across many asset categories

Performance

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